Singing the Blues

"I am 23 years old and I'm in love with the blues. But I often feel this relationship is destined for heartbreak. You see, I can't seem to find my love anywhere[...]"

By Jordan Monroe

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When Youth Radio's Jordan Monroe surveys his friends' taste in music, he's worried about the future of the blues. He says in the days of blues musicians like Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, artists who first picked up guitars when they were kids, blues used to be incorporated into lives of many African American communities. But Jordan doesn't see that happening anymore. Today, kids rap instead of singing the blues. So in this personal reflection, Jordan tries to save the music he calls his "ladylove."

Blues has been in my life since Osh Kosh Bigosh.

GRANDMA (on tape)
Pay attention to what you are listening to, and you’ll enjoy it ‘cuz you got to enjoy it for yourself.

JORDAN
This is my grandmother, George Gibson. Her house was always full of Howling Wolf, B.B King, Little Johnny Taylor,. Oh yeah, my personal favorite, Bobby Blue Blands.

GRANDMA (on tape)
Even since you have been up in age a little you come in and play the Blues, sit there, pat your foot and have a good time by yourself.

JORDAN
For many years grandma owned two popular Blues clubs in Oakland, California: "My Club" and "Al's House of Smiles." She got her introduction to the Blues back home in Texas when she was young, just like me.

GRANDMA (on tape)
Years ago they had different little clubs and they would have a person playing guitar. That was the only instrument they had, a guitar, and they played the guitar and sang the blues. And I was very young then but I enjoyed it then.

JORDAN
Last year, my grandma was inducted into the West Coast Blues Hall of Fame. While attending the induction ceremony, I came across an old blues musician by the name of Guitar Mac. His bright orange suit and white hat with a feather had a lot to say, so I figured he might too.

GUITAR MAC (on tape)
Blues is exhilarating...a lot of people think of Blues as a downer... But then Blues can also be an upper too, you see? So, blues is here to stay.

JORDAN
But I ask myself, where is it? I am 23 years old and I'm in love with the Blues. But I often feel this relationship is destined for heartbreak. You see, I can't seem to find my love anywhere, except at the occasional blues festival. I turn on the radio and she's not there. All I hear is...

That sounds fine too, but there is nothing like my Blues. I ask my friends if they've seen her. But they claim to have never known her. My co-worker Adrian is a self-declared rock n' roller. I ask him, has he heard from my ladylove, the Blues.

ADRIAN (on tape)
It was in uh some of those commercials with the Blues music.
Jordan: OK, so you're pretty much exposed to the blues through commercials ... are you familiar with the role that blues has played in the development of rock and roll?
Adrian: Uhh, no I'm not.

JORDAN
How can one claim to love rock and roll, rap or country without knowing and loving their mother, the Blues?

Young people certainly have the blues now more than ever. I look around Oakland and I see people my age, or younger, abusing drugs and alcohol or becoming victims of homocide. When my grandmother opened her first Blues club, she says Oakland didn't have this kinds of Blues at all.

GRANDMA (on tape)
Oh my God the neighborhood was a different thing than what it is now. It was just wonderful. You had people that came in from all walks of life. Nothing like it is now. You could walk the streets, you could come by yourself. Everything was fine

JORDAN
The Blues remains alive through the sampling that many contemporary rap artists use in their songs. Here is an example: in Nas's song called "Bridging the Gap." The Blues riff you hear comes from Muddy Waters' song "Mannish Boy" and is performed by Nas’ father.

Nas had a parent who introduced him to the Blues when he was just knee high to a grasshopper. But many young people spend less time with their parents and grandparents than other generations did and missed this exposure. My grandmother introduced me to the love of my life, the Blues.

Call me a hopeless romantic if you wish. But I am whole heartedly in love with the Blues. But this is not a jealous love. I want everyone to embrace my lover. Take a little time to listen to her words and I promise, despite the alarming breakup rates you hear about, this is a love that will last forever.